


Studies in Web-Slinging and Friendly Neighborhood Relations

by jabedalien



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Mention of injuries, Mention of scars, don't read too much into it, they're both spider-man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jabedalien/pseuds/jabedalien
Summary: Abed’s sitting on a curb drinking a slushie, because it seems like the kind of thing people do in movies when they’re too far into their twenties to still have no clue what they’re doing. Then a spider crawls onto his hand from the concrete before biting him and scurrying away.Of course he wonders if it’ll make him Spider-Man. Whodoesn’t?
Relationships: Abed Nadir/Jeff Winger
Comments: 17
Kudos: 56





	Studies in Web-Slinging and Friendly Neighborhood Relations

**Author's Note:**

> this is a kind of random au?? idk i rewatched spider-verse so i have been in a spider-man mood lately.

Abed’s sitting on a curb drinking a slushie, because it seems like the kind of thing people do in movies when they’re too far into their twenties to still have no clue what they’re doing. Then a spider crawls onto his hand from the concrete before biting him and scurrying away.

Of course he wonders if it’ll make him Spider-Man. Who _doesn’t_?

However, he’s still a little surprised when it happens.

He’s flipping through channels, trying to figure out how the _fuck_ he’s supposed to sew this dumb costume, when he spots a news report on the original Spider-Man. Mentally names him Spider-Man Classic, and watches him swing between buildings. _That_ guy knows where to get a Spider-Man suit.

#

Abed finally finds him a few days later, legs dangling off the edge of an old building over an alley. He turns invisible and makes his way there, he’s a few steps from the ledge when the other Spider-Man looks in his direction uncertainly.

They stay like that for a moment, Abed still invisible and the other guy trying to figure out who he’s sensing.

“You can come out, I don’t bite.” Spider-Man finally says. “There’s no mouth hole on the mask.”

When Abed materializes he still jumps back an inch.

“Sorry.” Abed apologizes. “I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to be team up or fight to the death.”

“It’s always one of three things.” Spider-Man answers.

“Does that mean we’re enemies?”

“I hope not.” He says. "I don't think it'd be a fair fight anyways."

They look at each other for a long moment, or at least that’s what it seems like they’re doing, you can’t really tell with the masks. His suit looks just as good as it did on the news, Abed’s is more scraps of black fabric and uneven red stitching than anything else.

Spider-Man slowly reveals his face. Abed does the same.

“I’m Jeff.” He says, motioning to the spot next to him, and Abed sits down.

“I’m Abed.”

“You look like you need some help with this whole thing.”

“I do.”

#

So Jeff gets Abed a high-tech suit, and teaches him the ins and outs of the various villains that are hell-bent on destroying New York City specifically. The information about who everyone actually is and how they’re all connected is usually communicated as they’re training or beating up henchmen.

As soon as the two of them are seen fighting together there’s reports of the second Spider-Man. Social media’s filled with theories, that he’s from another dimension, or another timeline, he’s going to be Jeff’s successor or they’re related, or he’s going to kill him.

#

They end up spending most of their time together when they aren’t working. The job’s basically on-call for life, so it’s not like they have much else to be doing. And why would they spend time with regular people, when you can be with someone that gets it?

Abed learns Jeff became Spider-Man when he was 16, that he’s been doing this for almost twenty years now. He says it with a lot of pride, but Abed can sense the sadness in it. That he dropped out of high school when it happened, because who the hell is going to read The Crucible when you're a fucking superhero?

Abed's already broken a few ribs, his arm, his ankle that one time, and definitely gotten a concussion along with the broken collarbone when him and Jeff were messing around in an alley and swung directly into each other. They heal fast, but Abed can’t imagine the toll it’s probably taken on Jeff through the years.

Jeff loves it, he can see it in his eyes every time they get alone and he pulls the mask off. The thrill never gets old, Abed’s sure of that, but Jeff’s tired.

“Am I supposed to replace you one day?” Abed asks him.

They’re still wearing their suits, slumped on Jeff’s couch. They sit closer now, but never mention it.

It had been a long night, a bank robbery and a run-in with some of Kingpin’s guys that probably involved a few million in property damage. Jeff had taught him to disregard that.

“I guess so.” Jeff says. “But then who will I be?”

Abed considers this. “You’ll just be Jeff.”

Jeff grabs his mask and balls it up in his fist, then drops it. Looks up at Abed with more fear than he’s ever shown out there.

“What if I don’t _want_ to be Jeff?”

#

They’ve laid the first aid kit out on the coffee table, Jeff’s got his suit half on, Abed putting stitches into a gash over his appendix. It’ll heal but not without adding another scar to Jeff’s torso. There are dozens, overlapping each other year after year, claw marks and stab wounds, a burn down his right arm.

He told Abed it scared the people he slept with, that he could tell it freaked them out but they didn’t want to ask where they came from. Abed didn’t look quite the same but he still had his fair share of marks left from their missions, a scar across the bridge of his nose, a few more mapping his chest. Tries not think about Jeff's careful use of words.

Abed kept stitching till he’s closed the cut, snips the end and carefully wipes it. Tries not to think about their position on the couch, how he’s sitting on Jeff’s thigh and leaning a hand against his shoulder.

#

Kingpin’s taken out of the warehouse in cuffs, police sirens blaring and cameras flashing. There are so many voices that they don’t actually sound like people at all. Only twenty minutes ago he’d been hiding on the ceiling, waiting for the right moment to drop down before letting go and falling through the air.

Then Jeff got thrown against the wall, and Abed came tumbling after him, and he really, really, thought they were going to actually die this time.

Now they’re out here, and everyone wants to know who he is. They know he won’t answer but they ask anyway. The flash is blinding. It’s all too much, they can’t see him but he’s right here, under the mask. If someone really wanted to, they could walk over and take it off. He freezes there, but Jeff grabs him by the arm and shoots them up and away.

When they’re out of sight Jeff gently pulls off Abed’s mask. He doesn’t say anything, just sits next to him.

“I’m sorry.” Abed finally says, after far too long of staring into nothing. It’s been so long that the sun’s starting to rise over the city.

“Don’t be sorry.” Jeff answers, placing a hand over Abed’s. “You did everything right.” 

“Sometimes it all feels too real.” Abed says.

“I know." Jeff tells him, because of course he does. "It doesn’t matter how you act afterwards though. As long as you keep getting back up while we’re in there.”

Abed looks at him, at the blood staining through his suit. “You told me there were three things that happen, when you meet someone else with superpowers. But you never told me the third one.”

Jeff looks at him and smiles, then presses his lips together. “We team up, fight to the death, or fall in love.”

“Can two of them happen at once?” Abed asks.

“Apparently.” Jeff answers.

Abed leans forward and kisses him, both their hands unable to avoid everywhere they’d been battered in the last fight. Jeff's mouth tastes like blood but his lips are soft and wanting. It’s them, alone, no masks on.

#

They’re trying to hold the Brooklyn Bridge together with webs, and it may or may not be working, the situation’s evolving pretty rapidly. But the two of them go where the other isn’t, and there’s no one on it by the time the last of the structure crumbles. There are cars in the East River though, all crushed up from when Doc Oc was tossing them around in mechanical claws.

Logically, he knew they couldn’t save everyone. But that doesn’t make it any easier when they don’t save everyone. When he looks in the water and knows there are people in there, that if he'd done something differently maybe there wouldn't be. He looks over to Jeff, wants to say something but he can’t decide what.

“Little too real.” Jeff whispers, placing a gloved hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

Halfway there they decide to sit tangled on a fire escape and eat bagels instead. The girl in front of them in line calls them “baggles”, and they spent the rest of the night making fun of her.

#

Abed makes Jeff kiss him while he’s upside down, standing on the ceiling in Jeff’s living room. He fakes annoyance at first, tells Abed it’s a tired trope. But he can’t hide the way he whimpers into Abed’s mouth when he holds onto his face.

Then they do it after catching a villain, and one of the reporters is in the right alley at the right time. She finds them, Abed standing with his feet on the brick wall, tilted back to meet Jeff’s lips. Thankfully their masks were only pulled up to their noses, but the picture’s still front page news.

# 

Jeff and Abed are looking out on Times Square, watching a news broadcast playing on a billboard.

“I’m here with Annie and Troy. What do you think of the recent announcement?” The newscaster asks, passing the microphone to two people on the sidewalk.

“I’m gonna miss the old Spider-Man.” Annie says. “I hope he still comes around sometimes.”

Troy leans into the mic. “Me too, but the new Spider-Man kicks _ass_. I can’t wait.” 

“Were you surprised when you found out about their relationship?” The interviewer asks.

“Not really.” Annie says. “A bunch of people on the internet called that one.”

“Well they’re definitely the best superhero couple.” Troy says. Annie nods in agreement.

#

So they move in together, and the newspapers stop arguing over what to call Abed, because now he’s just Spider-Man, and Jeff’s Spider-Man Classic who spends most of his time at children’s hospitals and charity events.Takes the media spotlight so Abed can do the dirty work in relative peace. But when they get home, he's Jeff, and Abed's just Abed. Even if they still spend more time on rooftops than anywhere else, they still shoot webs at each other when they get annoyed, and Abed still hangs upside down for Jeff to kiss him. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! im jabedalien on tumblr as well :)


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